Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when does that agreement that the honourable Minister speaks about expire, and does that apply just to surgeons or does that apply to all general practitioners? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise again today because I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Yesterday I talked about my concerns about the shortage of doctors in emergency rooms and in clinics. Mr. Speaker, a national physician survey conducted by the College of Family Physicians in Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons basically said there was an alarming state in regards to doctor supply. In brief, there were two serious observations: 21,000 doctors were surveyed, and 60 percent of them are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will now be looking for the Minister to go over the top from whelming me to overwhelming me. Will the Minister commit that by the new year he will investigate and have a report back on developing a policy based on national standards for our social housing for people with disabilities in regard to accessibility issues? Will he commit to having that done by the new year so we have something once he’s had a chance to investigate it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is in line with all the other Members here on theme day for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, I’m looking for a commitment from this Minister. Will this Minister develop a policy that will meet the existing standards based on accessible living for people with disabilities in social housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, speaking from a territorial perspective now, what are we doing about the small communities that suffered these services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this survey noted that 26 percent of the doctors are scaling back their service in the next few years. Mr. Speaker, only four percent are looking at increasing the service. Historically doctors have been known to work 70 and 80 hours per week, whereas now they are working barely 50. Mr. Speaker, what is the department doing? I would like to hear a concrete plan of what they are doing as an action plan to bring new doctors to the Northwest Territories, recognizing that 60 percent are scaling back and 3,800 are potentially retiring within two years across...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My apologies, I didn’t hear that, but I will go into my last one. Will the Minister be willing to commit to looking into the problem of waiting times, as well as possibly addressing this problem directly by putting another doctor in this emergency room because the nurses need a doctor to do the job that they do? So would the Minister commit to looking at that problem today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the fact that the Minister gave me a little bit of a history lesson on the 14th Assembly, Mr. Speaker, but we’re a year into the 15th Assembly and I can appreciate that the 14th had priorities as well. Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about real life waiting times. I’m talking about where people have to wait six or eight hours. If you are a mother with a child who has to go get them fed, you just can’t sit there and wait; or you’re a senior, you can’t sit there forever. Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about dealing with the six or eight-hour service...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it’s a real crisis because real people mean real money and they are just sitting there. That’s real time lost to both our government, as well as to our world out there. Mr. Speaker, if someone gets tired of waiting after three, four, five hours…I mean, there are priorities and people understand that, but you have to sign a waiver to leave the hospital now. So people do get exhausted and are taking their kids home because they just cannot sit there.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions later for the Minister, but there are just some points I want to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was a good answer by the Minister, I’ll say. Mr. Speaker, why are we not looking at setting up a territorial facility to take care of all of the people that we ship out to Edmonton with regard to this situation that I’ve raised with the Minister? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.